1. Small to Midsized
Business Marketing
Practices Survey 2010

2. Overview & Methodology
Objective – Obtain an understanding of how small to midsized businesses (SMB) are using their
marketing budget in 2010, as well as 2011 projections.
Approach – In partnership with GrowBiz Media, a SMB content provider and consultant, Zoomerang
distributed a survey to businesses with less than 1,000 employees. Businesses were asked questions
about their 2010 marketing budgets, the tools/technology utilized this year and 2011 projections.
Results – In total, 751 completed surveys were received from businesses across the country. The
results show an evolution of the technology and tools used in SMB marketing. E-mail and social media
marketing continue to grow in popularity, whereas many forms of print marketing remain strong.
Key Takeaways –
- Businesses are continuing to adopt social media and build these practices into marketing
budgets.
- The growth of social media could be linked to more than half of the businesses surveyed having
a marketing budget of $1,000 or less.
- Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are the top three social networks, respectively, utilized by SMBs.
• Respondents under the age of 30 are the highest adopters of social media.
- The top five budget areas that SMBs plan to increase in their 2011 marketing budgets are:
website, e-mail, direct mail, social media and print advertising.

3. 2010 Annual Marketing Budget
More than half of SMBs surveyed have a budget of less than $1,000

4. 2010 Marketing Tactics by Geographic Classification
A closer look at the budget allocations by population numbers

5. 2010 Marketing Budget Expenditures
Breakdown of 2010 budget allocation for the SMB respondents

6. 2010 Word-of-Mouth Marketing Efforts
86% of the businesses surveyed utilize some form of word-of-mouth marketing

7. 2010 Website Usage
54% of the respondents indicate their business currently has a website

8. 2010 Social Media Usage for Business
35% of the SMBs surveyed employ some form of social media

9. 2011 Marketing Plans
Breakdown of budget allocation projections for the SMB respondents
*A further breakdown of the data is available in the Appendix.

10. Appendix

11. Business Size
Number of permanent, full-time employees at the SMBs surveyed
Number of Employees Percentage
1 - 25 89%
26 - 50 3%
51 - 100 4%
101 - 250 3%
251 - 500 1%
501 - 1,000 1%

12. Business Location
Breakdown of the top 10 states represented in the survey respondent base
State Percentage
California 9%
Florida 9%
Illinois 7%
New York 5%
Ohio 5%
Texas 5%
Georgia 4%
Michigan 4%
New Jersey 4%
Massachusetts 3%
North Carolina 3%

13. Role in the Organization
84% of respondents are the primary marketing decision maker, whereas the remaining
16% have “a lot of influence” in the decision process
Role Percentage
Owner/ Owner Operator 91%
Partner 7%
Head of Marketing 2%

14. 2011 Marketing Budget Prediction
Tactic Increase Keep Same Decrease N/A
Website 17% 47% 3% 33%
Direct mail 15% 40% 5% 40%
Email marketing 15% 41% 3% 40%
Social media 13% 37% 2% 48%
Print advertising 10% 42% 7% 41%
Online advertising 9% 34% 4% 54%
Public relations 9% 41% 3% 47%
Event marketing 8% 36% 3% 54%
Trade shows 7% 35% 4% 53%
In-store promotions 6% 33% 4% 57%
SEO 4% 28% 3% 65%
Radio 3% 29% 4% 64%
TV 3% 28% 4% 66%
A closer look at the planned budget breakdown for 2011